


For What It's Worth

by Scrunchles



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Minimum Wage, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-29
Updated: 2018-10-29
Packaged: 2019-08-09 08:38:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16446500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scrunchles/pseuds/Scrunchles
Summary: “You’re not stupid, Jamie,” Mako tells him.  “What you want isn’t stupid.”





	For What It's Worth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ArmsShanks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArmsShanks/gifts).



> Shanks asked for an AU with broke Junkers~ It was tons of funnn.
> 
> Thanks to Skadi for the beta~

It’s 2:35 on a Tuesday.  Mako stares blankly at the customer trying to get exactly one kilogram of apples on the scale.  He nearly tells her that they’re priced as eaches, but he used up all his give-a-damn six hours ago when his boss told him that one of the butchers called in and he—a known vegetarian—would have to fill in until the afternoon shift came in.

Mako turns around and continues pulling bags of salad forward on the shelf.  Every ten minutes or so, a customer comes by and takes a bag from where he just pulled them forward.  He reaches over and fixes it before continuing down the section.  The last thirty minutes are always the longest, but eventually three o’clock comes and Mako heads to the time clock.  He hears a shrill voice talking about apples at the lanes, and he feels a small, self satisfied smile tug at his lips.  

Working minimum wage retail really changed what he would consider schadenfreude.  It’s sad but a customer wasting nearly fifteen minutes picking at apples because she can’t read a sign is the peak of his day.  

It’ll be a good story for dinner tonight.  His boyfriend, Jamie, is coming over for the tallest pb&j they can make with $5.  Both of them have late shifts the next day, and Mako has snuck a variety of busted beers out of salvage.  This is about as perfect as it gets for them. Years ago, when he was working for himself, he would have paid for a dinner and worn something decent.

He doesn’t think he has a single shirt that’s truly clean.  Not that Jamie will mind.  He usually shows up straight from work, covered in grease and grinning like a fool.  

He _is_ a fool, pitching his lot in with an old, dilapidated failure.  Mako loves him anyway—maybe more because of it.  He’s only told Jamie he’s wasting his time once before, and Jamie didn’t speak to him for nearly two weeks.  He still came over and laid across Mako’s couch with his foot and prosthetic in Mako’s lap, and kissed him when he arrived and after he left, but he didn’t say a word.  Not until he figured out all the ways he could tell Mako exactly why he was wrong and how Mako was the best thing that ever happened to him.

Mako is the only adult that ever made him feel like an equal—everyone tells him he’s young all the time, that he’ll figure it out someday, whatever “it” is.  Mako telling Jamie that he’s wasting his time with him because he’s younger just made him sound like everyone else.

Jamie doesn’t want everyone else.  He wants Mako.

They get the sandwich tall enough that Jamie has to carefully crouch beside Mako’s coffee table—his only table—and lovingly craft the last few layers separately before carefully plopping them at the top of the pile of bread, peanut butter, and jelly.

“It’s a masterpiece!” Jamie announces as he crawls back up onto the couch and wraps his arms around Mako’s neck.  “You think it’ll fall over if we cut it in half?” he asks after they spend a few minutes sitting and considering the tower of a full loaf of bread and nearly an entire jar of peanut butter.

“Probably,” Mako says.  “Try it anyway.”

Jamie grins and takes off like a spring to get a knife from the kitchen. 

“Walk!” Mako reminds him as he hears metal clatter around in the drawer.  “Idiot,” he mutters fondly as he sits up and takes a good look at their dinner.  It’s a lot of sandwich, but Jamie’s a string bean with a bottomless void for a stomach and Mako’s got plenty of room for three quarters of an entire day’s calories in the name of “date night.”

“Alright, mate,” Jamie says as he painstakingly walks back into the living room with a knife.  “You hold it, I’ll carve.”

The mad-scientist look he pulls is absolutely silly and Mako absolutely wants to kiss him.  He scoots up to the edge of the couch and carefully pulls the plate towards him.  They both hold their breaths as it wobbles for a second, but then it stills and Mako carefully places his hands on opposite corners.

Jamie is careful and precise for about ten seconds until he gets bored of playing doctor and turns into a samurai.  He makes exaggerated “hi-yah!” noises as he cuts the first slide down all the way through the last half of the sandwich.  A big grin stretches his mouth and a bit of peanut butter smears his chin.

Mako leans in and wipes it off with his thumb as Jamie rotates the sandwich.  The only thing keeping it from falling over is Mako’s free hand still on it.  Mako smiles at Jamie and licks the peanut butter off his thumb before holding both sides down again.  “One more cut?” Mako asks.

“I don’t even wanna eat anymore after that,” Jamie says, his voice hungry for more than food. Jamie brings the knife up to slice through the other side of the sandwich and then hops over the coffee table to press as close to Mako’s side as possible.

Mako peels away a section of sandwich and hands it to him.  “Eat first, then we can fuck.”

Jamie shoves half of the sandwich into his mouth and then goes to take another bite.  Mako grabs his arm and rolls his eyes.  “Slow down,” he says.

Jamie mumbles something around the food in his mouth, but Mako can’t understand him.  He says, “My dick’ll still be here when you finish your half,” anyway.

Jamie grins and leans up for a kiss, his mouth still jammed open with food.

“You’re disgusting.” Mako snorts and bumps his cheek against Jamie’s lips before continuing to eat his own bit of sandwich.

Though they cut it in half, Mako ends up finishing the sandwich off.  Jamie eats enough that he’s sleepy eyed and curling into Mako’s side for nearly an hour as Mako slowly works his way through the last of their dinner.  

Jamie’s so comfortable against his side that Mako thinks they’re just going to go to sleep on the couch, but as soon as he shuts off the tv, Jamie’s mouth presses against his neck.

“Thought you were asleep,” Mako admits.

“No way I’m gonna sleep when I got you all night,” Jamie mumbles.

Mako snorts and shifts to lay down and drag Jamie on top of him.  “Alright,” he says. “Let’s see if you fall asleep in the middle of a shag.”

Jamie laughs and kisses Mako deeply.  He tastes like peanut butter and sugar.  Mako pulls him closer, pets his hair and his back and sides before sliding his hands beneath Jamie’s shirt.  They part to shed their shirts and then come back back together in lazy, sweet kisses.  Jamie’s shit at buckles and pulls back with a disgusted noise to figure out Mako’s.  “You got a new shitty belt.”

“It’s the same belt I always have,” Mako says mildly, tracing Jamie’s lean, ripcord body with his fingertips.  “You brought a condom, right?” he asks.

Jamie’s fingers slow to a stop and he carefully peeks up at Mako.  

“Ah… they’re so _expensive_ ,” he says. “Don’t you have any?”

Mako brushes Jamie’s hands away and starts redoing his belt.  “They’re less than a dollar.”

“Nooooo, Mako, c’mon… I’ll bring some next time!” Jamie promises.

“We’re not fucking without a condom,” Mako says.

Jamie whines and wiggles against him.  Warmth swirls in Mako’s gut, and he lets Jamie think he’s getting somewhere before holding him still and gently pushing him up.

“What about a ziplock, that’ll work the same, yeah?” Jamie asks.  

Mako snorts and stretches, exaggerating the movement to unsettle the lanky idiot on top of him.  Jamie laughs, clinging to Mako’s big gut until he settles back down.  

“Wanna take a ride to the corner store?” Jamie asks.

Mako huffs.  “I’m not leaving this apartment until I have to go to work tomorrow.”

“Fine,” Jamie says.  “I’ll walk alone, all by my lonesome, in the cold, in the middle of the night, alone—“

Mako shoves his hand against Jamie’s mouth to keep him from continuing to list how miserable his night will be if he has to go out and get condoms.  Then he sits up, dumping him off of him and onto the couch.

Jamie laughs lightly and puts on his best begging face.  “Soooooo, you gonna come with meeee?” he asks, his stump kicking gently at Mako’s gut with each syllable.

Mako stares down at him with furrowed brows.  “If only to keep you out of trouble,” Mako says.  “Otherwise you might get distracted and come back with only twizzlers and a bouncy ball.”

“Hey, that only happened once!” Jamie squawks.  

Mako is already moving to stand.  “Once is all it takes,” Mako replies, but it’s light hearted and with the barest smile.

“I went for candy, so I was close,” Jamie points out, clinging to Mako in order to be pulled to his foot.  

Mako hums as he walks over to slide his sandals on.  “You sure you don’t want to just fall asleep?” he asks.

Jamie huffs indignantly as he buckles his right leg into place and then drags his left boot on.  “How dare you assume that I would ever want to ‘just fall asleep’ with a man of your…” he gestures at Mako, waving his hand up and down and snaps his fingers when the word continues to escape him.

“Hm, yeah, you make a good point,” Mako says, taking Jamie’s waving hand in his and drawing him toward the door.  

Jamie slides his thin fingers between Mako’s massive ones and gives his hand a squeeze when he reaches for his keys.  “I know I said a lift earlier, but uh… is it stupid I wanna walk with you?”

Mako’s back thinks it’s stupid.  His left knee wants him to sit back down on the couch and both of his ankles are stiff from six and a half hours of walking on concrete and toting shit around.  “We can walk,” Mako says.

Jamie grins and hugs Mako’s arm as they walk out the door.  “You didn’t say if it was stupid or not,” he points out as they wait for the elevator.

“It’s not stupid,” Mako says, stepping into the elevator and leaning against the wall, his hand still linked with Jamie’s.  It isn’t.  So long as he’s spending time with Jamie, what they do isn’t stupid or a waste.  

Jamie presses against Mako and lets go of his hand to wrap his arms around his thick neck.  “It’s not a little stupid?” Jamie prods.

Mako leans in to kiss him.  “It’s stupid to keep asking.”

Jamie’s expressive mouth moves between a smile and a flat line until Mako clicks his tongue and runs his hand through his hair.  “You’re not stupid, Jamie,” he tells him.  “What you want isn’t stupid.”

Jamie leans into Mako’s chest and takes a deep breath.  Mako wishes he had showered after work, but Jamie never complains.  They aren’t perfect, sometimes they’re barely functional, but Mako loves Jamie more than anything.

The walk is nice, despite Mako’s aches and pains.  His stiff joints slowly work themselves out, and Jamie holds his hand for most of the walk, which is surprising.  Usually, he gets distracted or ends up fidgeting the whole time.  Well, he still fidgets, but it’s with Mako’s fingers, and the light trace and prod of it is strangely relaxing.  

“See?” Mako says as Jamie buys condoms and a case of beer.  “Cost less than a pack of sud.”

“Yeah, yeah.”  Jamie grabs the bag with the condoms, leaving the case of beer for Mako to tote.  “It’s your turn next time, though.”

Mako laughs, deep and sardonic.  “You’ve got a few more packs to go before we’re even, you cheap little shit.”

Jamie sticks out his tongue at Mako and Mako mimes throwing the case of beer at him, but lets it swing back to his side after a moment.  They settle back into walking beside each other with small smiles and Jamie’s hand creeps back into Mako’s.  

“I’ll do one more big pack and then it’s your turn,” Jamie says as they get back to Mako’s apartment.

Mako lets the beer hit the floor and ignores the twinge in his back and the way his knee grinds as he scoops Jamie up into his arms and heads for the bedroom.  “Think it’s my turn right now,” he points out.


End file.
